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Unboxing: Samsung Fascinate on Verizon

Got our grubby little Droid paws on a Samsung Fascinate today which we are all expecting to launch on Verizon next week for $199 on new 2-year contract and a possible BOGO offer thrown in. Anyways, no more rambling, let’s get straight to the video…

Oh and if you are wondering about RAM, Quadrant says about 332MB and this comparison sheet we gave you the other day says 336MB.

Questions? Anything you want me to use to attack this new Android family member?

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I really don't care if it isn't called a Droid, I appreciate the time and effort put forth to show the device. As Android becomes bigger in the marketplace many other makers will be coming out with devices. I personally like Motorola, but it doesn't mean another manufacturer won't make a phone that is eventually better and won't be branded as “Droid”. If people on here get so closed minded that they have to write negative crap because he reviewed a device that isn't ” a Droid”, well then I imagine they have the same stupid mindset as iphone users. Very sad indeed!!! Thank you Kellex for the unboxing, and look forward to a full review.

feztheforeigner

Are they not labeling this as a droid? Not the Droid-fascinate or something? Why would verizon do this? Did samsung make them for their own galaxy name thing?

JubbaTheHutt

Definitely digging the “seamless” design Samsung went with…sorta makes me jealous using the Droid X. Other than that, it looks like a major fingerprint magnet.

http://twitter.com/golfnm Phil Barela

I really like the moto droid lineup but if they offer a true boga/bogo I just may have to take the plunge.

I love my Droid! It is WAY better then the iPhone, trust me I've had both! The best part is, I got mine for Free for testing it out and giving a testimonial. Last I checked, they still had a couple available. http://www.squidoo.com/free-droid-cell-phone

El El Kool J

Still waiting to be Fascinated!!!

http://YourWebsite @eze4

I have the D1 & the bb tour & love them both, but I will be getting this phone to replace my D1. Mainly because there’s no need to have two android phones but I gotta have my bb. The ram doesn’t really bother me seeing as how I’ll get rid of the fascinate if & when the iphone comes out. Stop crying & complaining & either get the phone or don’t, its not that hard

GadgetzoneTV

Follow Me @GadgetzoneTV On Youtube Or Twitter For Latest App Reviews

Lostchild456

Hey Guys,

i'm on a non-rooted D1 with Froyo 2.2. I installed Flash 10.1 but it keeps force closing…? Am I missing something? Please help!

dylan84

It looks really nice…but I've had such terrible experiences with Samsung phones that I'd be skeptical to buy another cell phone of theirs.

MOTOX

I gota say, i wish i was a reputable review, cause you guys get all this free stuff, lol. Then if you don't even want it you can sell it. Well some reviewers do that…. well i think ill stick with my droid x, yah the design looks better on that S for the screen…i see what ur saying but…Im fine. Once it gets 2.2

Xbryxsetsfire

I'm interested to see if it plays flac files. I've seen conflicting specs on this issue

Stephen D

It looks like it did awesome in all of those graphics benchmarks. I think I saw a consistent 50+fps.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

TAAAAAAAACCCCCOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_S767EDXM55QWVP5ATUVWSQQJ3Q nate

great unboxing but where the hell can and or WHEN can i get a white back piece for my Droid inc. ?

http://www.facebook.com/levi.schroeder Levi Schroeder

Kellex, I mean this with a lot of respect, I love your site and everything you do. But do you have A.D.D?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

what?

http://www.facebook.com/levi.schroeder Levi Schroeder

Exactly.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

???????

Zeadaplaya

i have adhd

kellex

I don't even know what to say to that…

http://www.facebook.com/levi.schroeder Levi Schroeder

Sorry, I really wasn't trying to flame or anything. Just seems that in some videos you talk a mile a minute

Btw, TouchWiz has more eye candy then MotoBlur so it prob feels like Samsung looks sharper and nicer….Play NFS Shift on both devices or something and tell us what do you think cause I cant really tell how sharp it looks or not over a cam…

I played Angry Birds on my DROID X and the splash screen looks gorgeous not to mention the game….

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

at least droid life is getting the recognition it deserves as a force in the android community. hurray for review units! wish it was a droid though……

Morbid_Realities

yes it has a 4 Inch super amoled screen but this is Samsung. they will forget to support your phone after the 2.2 update

Seriously you guys are loyal to the term “Droid” vs “Android”? Really? I have a Droid… I'm getting this phone… and that doesnt make me a “traitor” to the Droid-nation. Get a grip people… oh and stop whining about how it looks like an iPhone… it doesnt… the Touchwiz Launcher is just a launcher. It's replaceable or better yet just disable it and voila… vanilla android. It's 512MB of RAM just like every other Galaxy S… and just like every other Galaxy S only ~336MB are available for use. It's not really that complicated. My feeling is… if I'm going to be forking over money to the greedy corporations like Verizon, I may as well pick my phone based on it's features and not on the cool marketing brandname…

morbid_Realities

while i kind of agree with you there. you need to remember this is a Sasung phone…they are effing horrible at supporting their devices past the 6 month mark. i personally wouldnt buy a Sumsung phone with my hard earned money. i cant afford to purchase a devise that will see no support in the coming months

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710530141 Tyler Buchanan

I'd rather have a phone with an unlocked bootloader from a company that doesn't support their devices than a phone with a locked bootloader that supports their devices… eventually

Morbid_Realities

perhaps. htc doesnt lock them down though. i personally dont like the feel of sammy phones. to me the feel like something youd find at the dollar store in their disciunt bin no less. just my opinion.

What

I don't think Samsung has a great support but before Galaxy S, they haven't had a decent phone to begin with. Behold 2 was pretty much outdated POS before it was ever launched. I don't know of anyone who bought that junk.

Dr.L'ling

Yeah, Samsung is pushing this line of phones very hard, and will most likely continue to make Galaxy S branded phones. Its on 4 Us networks now, with Cellular south to be added soon i believe, and the international version. I have a good feeling they will be supporting these devices.

MicroNix

Yes, definitely proceed with caution. There should be a rule of thumb here. Support your device 2 years past the last sold date (because some poor sucker just bought one on the last day of sale and is stuck with it under contract for 2 years). If the device can run newer versions of Android without significant slowdown, put that update out. If it can't, explain why and continue with what you can. How a manufacturer supports their phones will help determine from whom I buy my next one! Anyone who shafts their customers will be going down in a ball of flames. With a popular OS like Android, you had better be committed or you should not be in the game.

doctorPDA

Mordechai Daniel, thank you for clarifying the RAM details.

Kellex, can you confirm the total RAM / available RAM on the phone?

http://www.facebook.com/GotMurph Ben Murphy

What does Kellex look like?

Evermour

…that's easy. A man.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

two arms, two legs, and judging by his video narrations a mouth. Everything else is speculation.

http://www.ellerbestyle.com ELLERBESTYLE

If I wanted an iphone I would buy an iphone.

Dr.L'ling

Really? It hardly looks like an iphone and has a better proc/gpu than any of the 'droid' line of phones or an iphone.

http://www.ellerbestyle.com ELLERBESTYLE

Yeah well the skin they put on it makes the icons and stuff look like one.

Dr.L’ling

Oh yeah youre right about that. I use launcher pro though so that wont be a problem for me

Slowmo

i will not bother with this phone if it doesnt have 512 ram!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ill wait for the palm pre 2!!! Im very upset…anyone else?

Ben

Can you turn off TouchWiz? I'd be really interested if that's possible.

mo

of course you can, download any home replacement just like any other android phone.

Ben

This isn't what I meant. I mean can you turn it off in a similar fashion to that of the Epic 4G, without having to use a home replacement of any sort.

Anonymous

Nope, can’t turn it off like the EPic.

Rolandopr

332 of RAM!!? It sucks big time!!!! The only thing holding the D1 is the 256 RAM!! This phone is obsolete in 4months!!

Evilkokonut

the ram #s show up the same for the vibrant and captivate in quadrant. The GPU uses a dedicated 128mb why the ram # is reported as lower

lakerzz

It looks just a little bit too I*honish to me. As well as the app screens. The phone just seems a little bit too shiny as well. (Just my opinion, don't mean much)

http://Deodexed.com Deodexed

I think the phone is …..Cough….GAY!…..HAHAHA Good review Kellex, Thank you! Samsung should stick to TV's IMO. I had the Samsung rouge for a month and i cant help but to feel the same opinion on this phone. Not impressed at all! Just my opinion.

But still nice to see a review on it. It makes me feel better on picking the Droid-X. Also its makes me not want to buy the Samsung tablet coming out. I will wait on the Motorola Tablet!

DROID VADAR

I have both the Droid X and the vibrant (t-mobile=work phone) and I would have to say the Droid X destroys these samsung phones. I can’t stand the plastic on the back it makes it feel so cheap + I like having 854 by 480 screen. It just looks better to me. On the other hand I think that the super amoled pops better.

Washiib080209

You understand the only reason the x gets those high numbers in quadrant x is due to fast io times right. When advanced is run you can see the cpu/gpu scores are higher than the x but the io times make a huge chunk in the score

Rizzidy

Not a DROID – don't care.

Washiib080209

That's about the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time droid is just a branding that's it. That's like the people who buy iphones because its an iphone. Just a classic comment

Morbid_Realities

I think what hes saying is that its not an htc or motorola phone. there really hasnt been a quality android device made by any other manufactor. samsung support and follow up with their equipment plain and simple sucks. Droid to most of us mean quality devices AND support. right now you cant beat moto or htc in this department. that includes the non droid branded evo on sprint. ill be happy to eat my words if the facinate gets a 3.0 update

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710530141 Tyler Buchanan

Support… You mean waiting for 6 months to get an update and not able to change it on your own because Motorola says so?

Morbid_Realities

i agree but id be wulling to bet a metric crapton of moto droids were returned by people not tech savy screwing up their phones then unrooting and saying they had a defective unit. id have to use my toes to count the people i personally know who did this. moto probably incurs some ofbthese costs as im sure vzw files claims against moto. not saying moto isnt pulling soke major douche baggey by encrypting their bootloaders, but still.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710530141 Tyler Buchanan

You bring your phone to the Verizon store, they use RSD and flash it back to stock on the spot.

Anonymous

I doubt a majority of the VZW stores do that. Maybe if your buddy works there. I know mine doesn’t. You bring in a rooted Droid and they straight up tell you your warranty has been voided.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710530141 Tyler Buchanan

Yeah, and then there’s no warranty claim, is there? So no loss for them, and that argument is voided.

Anonymous

I’m not getting your point. People root and jack their phones up whether by running it too hot or whatever then unroot and return a it thereby bypassing the whole voided warranty thing. Phones still on a jacked chip but they get a replacement or an upgrade. It seems to me you’re taking a comments debate too personally now. I don’t feed into that so we can just agree to disagree.

Anonymous

also, the majority of Android owners do NOT root their devices. Just because you, me and a lot of others do doesn’t mean squat really. We are a very small percentage of the android market as a whole. So for those that don’t root and dig into the system it isn’t fair that they pay money for a device that don’t get supported after its release. Again just my opinion

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710530141 Tyler Buchanan

Well we have no idea how well they will support their device, they know their reputation is on it. Would you spend time supporting a shitty phone no one bought? This is their top of the line offering, they’re going to support it with updates so that people will continue to buy high end Samsung phones. They have to. Unless this flops, but I doubt it will flop on all four carriers, especially because it gives people a choice between an iPhone and another good phone on ATT.

Anonymous

tthe fact that hardly anyone bought it is a cop out. If a few devs can port updates to no longer supported phones for nothing but small donations then the damn manufactures should too. Period. Not me being angry at anyone but the manufactures. Just wanna point that out

lakerzz

*BUT IT F'N PRINTS MONEY!!!* lol…

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

shame!!! that video was against the iPhone!!

Chris Nimon

“But is it a droid? i want the white R2D2 one. Screw it, my brothers nieces mother told me they have them at wal mart”

I think the T-Mobile Vibrant (another Galaxy S phone) looks a lot like the iPhone 3GS

Dr.L’ling

Looks more like an i*hone that this the Fascinate. I will be getting this phone. It is far superior any of the droid phones out right now.

BACAbone

how do you figure that BS? Don’t get me wrong, i like it and all but superior to my DX, no way.

Patch89esch

i figured that this would score higher in the benchmarks than the droid x since it has the upgraded GPU. I guess Texas Instruments is just a better chip manufacturer. Has anyone tried running the galaxy s lwp on a droid x or droid 2, im curious as to how well it performs. The Droid cant handle them

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

kellex, have you or anyone of your sources found out anything about the motorola superphone that apparently is coming in quarter 1 of next year?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

zomg, ive posted this in like every other blog posting and no one cares about this super phone!?!?!

Guest

Sorry but i don't see the ''DROID'' enywhere……i think the name of the site is ''DROID_LIFE.COM'' not ''ANDROIDCENTRAL'' =

lol.but really I love this place and I don't want to see it become another android central =(

Username

He got a review unit, he had to do something with it. And I don't really think that it is that bad if he reviews a high end Verizon android phone that isn't a droid once in a while. Droid is just a logo, does it really make that big of a difference because it does not say it on the box? We could just call it the Droid Fascinate if you want to ;-).

Congratulations on your first review unit, you deserve it droid-life. (I think this is the first one)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

well techniqely droids are only made by HTC and Motorola.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710530141 Tyler Buchanan

No, Droids are whatever Verizon decides to give the name to. Both HTC and Motorola make plenty of non-Droid Android powered smartphones. Why is the HTC Evo not a Droid? Its a cross of the X and Incredible, but not on Verizon… and Verizon owns the trademark for Droid…

johnnstl

Just to clarify, Verizon doesn’t own the trademark for ‘Droid’ – they pay George Lucas to use it.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1143030578 Curtis Hoffman

Yes, but other high end handsets, AKA the samsung fascinate, dont have the Droid branding, those are only given to HTC and Motorola. duh

Anonymous

No, they only have somewhat high end android phones from motorola and htc so far…that is why it is like that…my guess is samsung wouldn’t let them so they can use their own “galaxy s” name. Droid fascinate galaxy just doesn’t sound good, to long.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710530141 Tyler Buchanan

Droids are whatever Verizon wants to define as one. Samsung is doing their own Galaxy S promoting, so calling this one a “Droid” while the other three something else would only confuse consumers even more. Regardless, my point is that the Droid logo is a Verizon thing, not a HTC/Motorla thing. Why would HTC and Motorola want to include the other with their marketing? Because Droid is a Verizon thing, and the Fascinate is a high end Android powered smartphone on Verizon, Kellex has more than enough right to talk about the Fascinate on his site.

http://www.facebook.com/nicrallred Nicholas R. Allred

I like what you said, “we could just call it the Droid Fascinate if you want to ;-)” i thought that was funny lol I mean if your gonna get a review unit what else are you gonna do just let it sit there in the box? lol

morbid_Realities

while i agree that ac.com sucks, i think kellex is doing his due diligence. this allows us droid owners to compare the OTHER guys phones to our own Droids. i can appreciate this article for what it is.

Anonymous

What is exactly wrong with Android Central? and if it sucks so bad, where do you go for your android news? surely not Engadget or Giz. Or are you one of the ones thats all for droids but doesnt like android in general?

Anonymous

Phandroid usually. But that’s just me. There are about a million and one Android related sites out there. And giz engag are ok as long as you disregard anything they post about the iPhone and Android

http://twitter.com/hijackerjack Rohil Thopu

hey guess what, he had a DROID Incredible in there..

DROID VADAR

DROID!

Dr.L’ling

Quit being a little bitch.

DarthRogue

A) Can we get the numbers out of quadrant from you?B) WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THE BING BAR!!!!! THIS IS EVILNESS!!!!! xD

Bill

ya. that's enough right there to make me not get it

Chris Nimon

Is this phone already rooted with 2.2? Custom roms/kernels?

Cadon78

I can't wait to pas my Dinc to my wife so I can get this ASAP!

Zach

Isn't it because Android 2.1 can't fully utilize 512MB of ram?

http://twitter.com/Ludacrosse05 Ludacrosse05

Kellex can you please spend more time focusing on the included manuals… maybe that would reduce the number of repetitive questions? Who am I kidding those manuals are worthless.

My Dad wants this. Told him to get a Droid X, then I said Samsung Fascinate was coming out. My Dad wanted to wait for the Samsung because its Samsung and he's Korean.:P

http://twitter.com/Droidfan17 Macfan16

I NEED THIS DEVICE!!!!!! I WILL DO ANYTHING FOR THIS DEVICE!!!! LOL

http://twitter.com/Pollita_Droid Erica Marchand

Interesting… very interesting. to me it looks like a chick phone. looks nice though. So i saw the VZ nav.. I think thats pretty lame. no more google navigation huh? It really upsets me how verizon insists on adding programs to these phones like blockbuster and others.. if i want it on my phone then i can install it myself.. lame! its not bad overall, but i wouldnt want it

Guy

you have to download google navigation it doesnt come pre-installed on the phone.

http://twitter.com/namebrandon Brandon Harris

RAM was not reduced, this was verified a few days ago, and I verified it in person today at a Verizon store. It's 512mb, same as the AT&T/T-Mo versions.

kellex

The numbers don't lie. And the comparison sheet I linked to up top is from Verizon and says 336MB.

http://twitter.com/namebrandon Brandon Harris

No, the numbers don't lie, but most people are reading them wrong.

Have someone with a Vibrant/Epic/Captivate pull the numbers on their phones and compare. They all add up to 494xxx etc.. It's 512, I promise, I looked at it today, in person as well as on the AT&T device.

Also, while were on the topic, the CPU frequency fluctuates under load as well, so if it appears at 400MHZ, it's obviously not down-clocked to 400MHz for good, it's just running at 400MHz at that moment.

Just seems like they dropped this to 336MB for some reason. All signs seems to pointing to it anyway.

http://twitter.com/namebrandon Brandon Harris

Yeah, I agree with you it looks that way, but I think it has to do with the GPU allocating memory from the system. If you take a look at the memory as compared with the Captivate / etc, you'll see almost identical numbers, and there was no indication that ATT downgraded their version. Maybe someone with a Captivate/Epic/etc can double check for us.

http://twitter.com/namebrandon Brandon Harris

OK, here's where I'm coming from Kell.. Captivate/Fascinate side by side, showing the same system memory. I really do think there's just a misunderstanding about memory allocation by the GPU.

Not to mention that 336MB is just one weird number for RAM. RAM spaces are multiple of 2 as far as I can tell. Since it's not 128, 256, or 512, I'd assume ~180MB RAM is being used up by TouchWiz

http://www.facebook.com/wonsae Wonsae Kim

128mb is used by the gpu i’d assume and the rest of that is from android os

Anonymous

i think the mb’s are dedicated differently so the document read 332 and if it was smaller why would they choose such a random number

Anonymous

i dont think it really has 332 or 336 i think the phone must divide the ram differently so the document had a typo and if they did reduce it why such and random number…and WHY!

Slowmo

Can u confirm the ram amount?

kellex

334MB as far as I can tell…

Guest

It seems to me that it’s just a matter of the SGX540 allocating some memory, similar to IGP cards in desktop computers. Can you root it and put on a vanilla rom then re-run quadrant? Not sure if a Vibrant or Captivate rom would work because they’re GSM though.

And anyway, people are saying Vibrant/Captivate have the same amount of ram reported from benchies, but they’re confirmed as 512.

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